Strength, Balance and Gracefulness

Climbing is a big thing here in the Dolomites, and easy to see why with the great slab’s of vertical rock round these parts.

Despite my love of the outdoors and especially the hills, climbing isn’t something I’ve ever got into. A number of reasons I guess, some I could have attended to such as body- weight ratio, confidence, and technical knowing, and others such as balance and a right fear – I’m not so sure about.

When I watch some climbers who seemingly move without effort and with such ease, I’m reminded of the better proponents of ballet. Such power, such control, such presence, mindfulness and flow in their art.

Though I, indeed most of us don’t possess this gracefulness in our athletic endeavours, we do possess if we think about it power in many ways, not just athletic. Position, physical, intellectual, emotional and economic, we may be slow to acknowledge it. It seems to me a real challenge to hold these things proportionately and graciously both with those whose lives rub up against our own and those whose lives we impact but never meet.

and not for the feint hearted Climbing in the Dolomites